此情可待成追忆，只是当时已惘然

How does British nostalgia and emotional restraint affecttragic narrative and characterization of the protagonists inThe Remains of the Day.

Nostalgia has a more honorific approach to the past in

comparison to what is being represented now since any nostalgic

remembrance of the past years for what is lost now, and it supplies

a criticism of the present thereby. In the idealisation of the past,

nostalgia casts the present as complicated, contaminated,

anarchic, difficult, ugly, and confrontational. The postimperial

melancholia makes nostalgia as much a symptom as a cause of

Britain’s general feeling of unease in the world. The British

Nostalgia has become a catchall term for many commentators.

As Thomas Leith once claims:

All histories are interpretations of earlier histories. There is no such thing as uninterpreted or reinterpreted history and every history must therefore be considered adaptahistory must therefore be considered adaptation.Every representation of the past has specifiable ideological implications.

According to Gülşah Göçmen & Özlem Özmen Akdoğan: Akdoğan:

Reconstructions of the past may tell us about the critical issues prevalent in the present and therefore supply commentary about our own context through historicization.

To understand the British style tragedy in the film

Frist of all: Repression and Emotional Repression:

One of the key aspects of Britishness in the film is the emotional restraint and stoicism shown by the characters. He is dedicated to his job and suppresses his own desires and emotions. This repression of emotions is a central theme in the tragedy, as it leads to missed opportunities and an unfulfilled life.

Stevens believes that dignity is a defining believes that dignity is a defining quality of greatness. The film explores the theme of lost love and regret. His regret over the lost opportunity for love and happiness is a His regret over the lost opportunity for love and happiness is a centracentral element of the l element of the tragedy. The film portrays the British The film portrays the British class system and the rigid social hierarchy of the time. As Kazuo Ishiguro said in an interview:

The objectivity of hypothetical portrait of Victorian time The objectivity of hypothetical portrait of Victorian time is unidentifiable. With the remains of the day, it’s like a pastiche is unidentifiable. With the remains of the day, it’s like a pastiche where where I I tried to create a mythical England.tried to create a mythical England. I wantI want it to beit to be more more English than English.

Ishiguro attempts to establish a fake England landscape, landscape, there is an enormous difference from the tones of the worlds created by those British writers including E.M. FOSTER, EvelynFOSTER, Evelyn Waugh,Waugh, and Ian and Ian MacEwan, since Kazuo Ishiguro came from another culture. Ishiguro's writing often relies on subtlety and understatement, so the indications of Mr. Stevens' discomfort with familiarity may so the indications of Mr. Stevens' discomfort with familiarity may not be explicitly not be explicitly toldtold but implied through the characters' interactions and the overall tone of the narrative.

Secondly: The postimperial nostalgianostalgia. .

The British empire had all but disappeared, and Britain was struggling for her own place in the world hierarchy.struggling for her own place in the world hierarchy.

This film was released just after the governance of Mrs. leased just after the governance of Mrs. Thatcher. As we all know, thatcher’s period is described as a time Thatcher. Aswe all know, thatcher’s period is described as a time of unemployment, multicultural conflicts, Britishness as an ideal. The imperial history as an institution, and its landscape as imperial history as an institution, and its landscape as a romanticized place, which strongly explains his statement in the a romanticized place, which strongly explains his statement in the same interviewsame interview: :

Such mythical England, and England with sleepy, beautiful villages with very polite people and butlers and people taking villages with very polite people and butlers and people taking tea on the lawn is just a constructed image for the English tea on the lawn is just a constructed image for the English people.p

Furthermore, IshiguroIshiguro notes that notes that the England he depicted the England he depicted never existsnever exists is mostly used as a political tool to promote the is mostly used as a political tool to promote the imperial legacy of Britain. imperial legacy of Britain.Therefore, in spite of thatin spite of that his work is a revisiting of all these his work is a revisiting of all these values attached to Englishness and the English novel, its subtle values attached to Englishness and the English novel, its subtle use of irony might gain less appreciation than his intentional use of irony might gain less appreciation than his intentional portrayal of a mythical English itself. portrayal of a mythical English itself.

Aristocracy values are like a butterfly caught in prehistoric amberamber. .As said, in the past, the world always used to come to the past, the world always used to come to TThis his HHouse in a manner of speakingouse in a manner of speaking. Stevens’ reply . Stevens’ reply illustrates how illustrates how nostalgic remembrance functions as a criticism of the presentnostalgic remembrance functions as a criticism of the present. .